The death toll from last week's tragedy off Lampedusa stands at almost 300, but searchers fear there may still be more.

LAMPEDUSA ISLAND, Italy, October 9 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has called on Italy to urgently renovate a crowded reception centre for boat people on Lampedusa Island as the emergency services continue to search for bodies on a flimsy vessel that foundered just off the coast last week. A total 156 people survived the sinking and 297 bodies have been recovered, including many children, with more likely.

UNHCR's Rome-based representative, Laurens Jolles, urged swift action from Italy to improve reception conditions for those arriving by sea. "Even though a greater involvement of the European Union (EU) in the management of mixed migratory flows is necessary, it is important that the Italian authorities immediately implement some urgent measures," Jolles said.

"First of all, renovation of the reception centre in Lampedusa is needed," he said, adding that its capacity should be restored to 850 from the current 250. The capacity was reduced after a fire in September 2011.

"The serious degradation of the reception centre, with entire families forced to sleep in the open when it rains, is absolutely unacceptable," stressed Jolles, who described conditions and services there as below EU standards.

He also urged the government to ensure speedier transfer of migrants and asylum-seekers to better-equipped facilities on mainland Italy. Jolles said the network of reception centres across Italy should be expanded and improved.

Meanwhile, some of the 156 survivors of last Thursday's tragedy discussed the ordeal today on Lampedusa with Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstroem. Also present were people who had landed on the island before the tragedy – they complained about conditions in the reception centre.

Among the survivors of one of Italy's worst migrant boat disasters was 25-year-old Binyam,* an articulate 25-year-old from the Eritrean capital, Asmara. He told UNHCR that at age 17 he had to join the army in a country where military service is compulsory and unpaid.

One of his brothers had been doing military service since 1966, unable to leave. But Binyam wanted a different life for himself and wished to pursue his love of art and painting. So he decided to leave Eritrea. He had been in the military for seven years when he fled, like many other young men in Eritrea, and made his way north in the hope of a better life.

He made his way into Sudan, mostly on foot and with only some powdered milk and water to sustain him. In Sudan, he was transferred to Shagarab refugee camp where he spent five days before paying a smuggler to take him to Khartoum. He hoped to join his brother in the United Kingdom or his sister in Germany and applied unsuccessfully to go to Europe legally. In the end he raised US$1,600 to pay for his passage to Libya and the Mediterranean.

After 40 days, he was taken by smugglers from a rural hideout to the coast for the fateful boat trip that nearly ended his life. He was aware of the danger of crossing the Mediterranean on rickety boats and his brother had warned him against using that route. That is why he did not want to call his family after he landed in Lampedusa.

Today, he said, he feels guilty and desperate for having survived when his friend Michael, whose picture he keeps, drowned. They had become friends during the trip to North Africa. Binyam keeps his mind occupied as one of three representatives for the surviving group.

Binyam looks extremely thin and worried. He had an empty look during the first two days in the centre, and is only slightly better now. He survived, but it does not make him feel any better when he thinks of those who didn't.

UNHCR country pages

Drifting Towards Italy

Every year, Europe's favourite summer playground - the Mediterranean Sea - turns into a graveyard as hundreds of men, women and children drown in a desperate bid to reach European Union (EU) countries.

The Italian island of Lampedusa is just 290 kilometres off the coast of Libya. In 2006, some 18,000 people crossed this perilous stretch of sea - mostly on inflatable dinghies fitted with an outboard engine. Some were seeking employment, others wanted to reunite with family members and still others were fleeing persecution, conflict or indiscriminate violence and had no choice but to leave through irregular routes in their search for safety.

Of those who made it to Lampedusa, some 6,000 claimed asylum. And nearly half of these were recognized as refugees or granted some form of protection by the Italian authorities.

In August 2007, the authorities in Lampedusa opened a new reception centre to ensure that people arriving by boat or rescued at sea are received in a dignified way and are provided with adequate accommodation and medical facilities.

Drifting Towards Italy

Angelina Jolie meets boat people in Malta, Lampedusa

Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie joined UNHCR chief António Guterres on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where they met with boat people who have fled unrest in North Africa.

More than 40,000 people, including refugees and asylum-seekers, have crossed the Mediterranean on overcrowded boats and descended on the small island since the beginning of the year.

The UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador flew to Lampedusa from Malta, which has also been a destination for people fleeing North Africa by boat.

Angelina Jolie meets boat people in Malta, Lampedusa

Fleeing Libya by sea

Thousands of people, mainly sub-Saharan Africans, are taking to the sea in ancient, leaky and overcrowded boats to escape war in their adopted homeland. Libya. The destination of choice is the Italian resort island of Lampedusa, some 600 kilometres north of Libya in the Mediterranean. Many of the passengers arrive traumatized and exhausted from the high seas journey. Others perish en route.

One Ivorian migrant describes life in Tripoli before leaving: "There was no peace. There was rifle fire everywhere. Then NATO started to bomb. We had nothing to eat. Some Libyans started to attack strangers at night, to steal your money, your mobile, whatever you have ... No way to stay there with them. Better to flee."

UNHCR estimates that one in 10 people die during the sea journey from Libya. Those bodies which wash ashore get a simple burial in Lampedusa's cemetery.

May 2011

Fleeing Libya by sea

Italy: Ezadeen Cargo Ship Arrival

On January 3, the Ezadeen, a cargo ship, was found adrift in the Mediterranean and taken to Italy. It had been abandoned by its crew, with 350 refugees and others on board. Most were fleeing the war in Syria. Now, far from home, they must face many new challenges.

Italy: Desperate Rescue at Sea

Tens of thousands are fleeing from the North African coast, seeking safety in Europe via a dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossings. Many are Syrian refugees, many others come from Sub-Saharan Africa - all risk their lives.

Italy: Haunted by a Sinking Ship

"Every time I try to sleep I see what I saw in the water, what happened to me, the dead children"
Thamer & Thayer, brothers from Syria, escaped war, then unrest in Libya only to be faced with death on the Mediterranean
The Lampedusa boat tragedies sparked a debate on asylum policies in Europe, leading Italian authorities to launch a search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea. Called Mare Nostrum, the operation had rescued more than 63,000 people at the time this video was published in July 2014.